Anton runs in Seoul to prepare for Olympics

The Spaniard Abel Anton, twice the world marathon champion, will run only one more marathon before the Sydney Olympics - in Seoul on 19 March.

The Spaniard Abel Anton, twice the world marathon champion, will run only one more marathon before the Sydney Olympics - in Seoul on 19 March.

"Now all the fiestas and award ceremonies have to stop and it is time to get back down to business," Anton said.

Anton has decided to turn his back on the London Marathon, in which he has raced for the last two years, winning in 1998. "London has been very good to us and, if all goes well, it would be good if Abel could go back there next spring as Olympic champion," his manager, Miguel Mostaza, said.

"However, the reasons we chose Seoul were two-fold. Firstly it fits better into our preparations for the Olympics, coming a month earlier than London, and also Seoul made a much better financial offer."

"Everything I am doing is focused on the Olympics," the 37-year-old said. "If I win the gold medal in Sydney maybe then I can call myself Spain's greatest ever athlete but at the moment Fermin Cacho has that title."

Cacho won the 1992 Olympic men's 1,500 metres gold medal in Barcelona, becoming the first Spanish runner to win an Olympic title.